Does the Prime Directive Really Matter? Would it be so truly horrible and detrimental to a society to interact with it pre-warp?
Within the series, the Prime Directive seems to be more of a general philosophy (that should be followed to the best one one's ability) than a strict rule (like they say it is).
As people mentioned in other threads, the Prime Directive was more of a plot device than anything, meant to complicate a plot and place more restriction on Kirk or Picard and Co., thereby creating drama (ie. "How can we save Wesley?" and so on).
As to whether or not it matters ... it absolutely matters:
Imagine what would happen if American troops in the 1800s were given phaser technology. A single person could allegedly defeat a whole army (remember wide-angle capabilities in phasers even in TOS). In the wrong hands, this could result in an ENORMOUS in-balance of power.
There are infinite possibilities when it comes to tampering with the proper history of a civilization.
Within the series, the Prime Directive seems to be more of a general philosophy (that should be followed to the best one one's ability) than a strict rule (like they say it is).
As people mentioned in other threads, the Prime Directive was more of a plot device than anything, meant to complicate a plot and place more restriction on Kirk or Picard and Co., thereby creating drama (ie. "How can we save Wesley?" and so on).
As to whether or not it matters ... it absolutely matters:
Imagine what would happen if American troops in the 1800s were given phaser technology. A single person could allegedly defeat a whole army (remember wide-angle capabilities in phasers even in TOS). In the wrong hands, this could result in an ENORMOUS in-balance of power.
There are infinite possibilities when it comes to tampering with the proper history of a civilization.
But again, you're not necessarily giving them anything. And even if you did, there's a good chance they won't know what to do to make more (how can Colonial Pennsylvania reverse engineer a Phaser?) or that they won't use it to a negative end, or that you'd be giving it to every power bloc on a world so it's balance of power.What if the Hitler was given ICBM and Nuclear weapon technology?
The point of the PD seems to be we can't know how our actions will impact on the planet as a whole. Whilst we might have the best intentions at heart, things might not work out how we want them to.
FTL travel seems to be the cut off for point for making contact. However the PD still applies in so much as we won't interfer in internal matters.
Of course the counterpoint to that is, what if Winston Churchill was given some ICBMs and Nuclear weapons around 1940? But not the technology to produce them. How many lives ultimately would have been saved?What if the Hitler was given ICBM and Nuclear weapon technology?
At some threshold level, more related to the general strength of culture and intellectualism than technological knowhow, the recipients would become capable of correctly judging what had been given to them. Hitler or Stalin for example could very quickly figure out the limitations of Churchill's putative arsenal, and possibly press on with fighting while accepting the loss of major cities - just like both had already done in face of more conventional destruction.
(Also, giving the weapons to Churchill in 1940 might well have assured their ending up in Hitler's hands anyway, as the delivery would have given the German leader the impetus for pressing on with an invasion of the island kingdom. And just like all of his previous maneuvers, it would have been an operation extremely unlikely to succeed in theory, yet quite likely to succeed in practice, what with British land and sea defenses being a thin and somewhat damp paper tiger at the time.)
Of course, TOS starship skippers could do just about anything they wanted, then observe the results, and then fly back in time to refine their course of action... No need for speculation and second-guessing. One wonders if this isn't what actually happened, a couple of times, and the results still were disastrous even after two or three iterations of good intentions - discouraging both this practice, and time travel in general?
Timo Saloniemi
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